DiCE: Battlefield 3 quality exceeded our expectations

DICE’s creative director says that the quality of the final code for Battlefield 3 has surpassed his expectations.

“You always need to look at what type of game you have,” Lars Gustavsson told Destructoid.

“We can’t release whatever we have just because we have a [launch] date. I think it’s been extreme dedication and focus on the team to make sure we have a great game when the date comes. I would say we have exceeded my expectations in what we managed to accomplish with this game.”

Gustavsson added that work on the main game was largely complete even before the recent beta.

“It wasn’t like when things surfaced in the beta we were caught by surprise and started fixing the main game,” he said. “The main game was more or less done. It was more validating what we knew. We just checked our lists of already implemented fixes and said ‘Yeah, yeah we know about that one’ or ‘Oh yeah, that old one.’

“But then, there were things we found. The pace of scoring, that people were scoring so quick took us by surprise. A lot of good findings that will make it a better experience.”

Despite his confidence, Gustavsson admitted that everyone at DICE is somewhat on edge at the moment.

“There’s a lot of nervousness going around. People saying ‘Did you see that? Did you see what they said over there?’ I think everyone is extremely jumpy. I wouldn’t say it’s fear but it’s your baby and you just want it to go extremely well.”

Confident words indeed, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.